Isaac is 4!

Our best boy turned FOUR yesterday!  I feel like it was just yesterday that he was born.  To say that we are thankful for Isaac is an understatement.  We love our son to pieces and are so blessed to be his parents.  

Isaac woke up extra early yesterday...he was so excited that it was his birthday.  He spied a birthday gift on the kitchen table right away.

Do you think he's excited about his new horses?

"Look what I got, Emma!"

I'll let the next picture speak for itself, but let's just say that Emma was just a little bit upset that Isaac had a new toy and she didn't....  

But, Emma recovered quickly when she saw pumpkin pancakes for breakfast!

birthday pancakes! 

The four candles on Isaac's pancake made one giant flame which Isaac had to huff and puff to blow out!  (Don't you love how the new horse is closely watching?)

After breakfast, we went to BSF.  I told Isaac he could take his new horses to play with in the car, but he didn't want them to get lost.  :)  Isaac had an especially great day at BSF because he was the line leader, which is very exciting when you're a preschooler.  :)

After BSF, we usually go to the park or the Milestone Tubes with other moms and kids from BSF.  I made two cookie cakes to share.  It made me laugh how all the kids laid on their tummies to watch Isaac blow out his candles.  Even Emma copied what the big kids did and laid down.  :)

We're so thankful for these sweet friends who were so excited to celebrate Isaac!  Isaac told everybody, "It's my birthday and now I'm FOUR years old!"

Emma mostly liked licking the frosting off of the cookie cakes. :)

Isaac got to open some more presents last night.  Isaac's Grandma Debbie sent this awesome camping chair for Isaac!  Both Isaac and Emma loved sitting in it.  

I think Isaac was just as excited about the boxes that Grandma Debbie's gifts came in as he was about the gifts themselves!  :)

Happy Birthday, Isaac!!

My parents and Great-Grandma Dolores joined us for dinner last night.  We had sloppy joes and acorn squash--two of Isaac's favorites.  But, he was mostly excited about eating cake and ice cream!

It takes a lot of breath to blow out four candles!

Isaac loves licking the frosting off of each candle...it's hard to hold him back from licking the candles at other birthday parties!

My parents gave Isaac an entire wardrobe of dress-up costumes!  My mom found them all at a children's consignment shop in Utah, and she hit the jackpot!  Now Isaac can dress up like Thomas the Train, Percy the Train, the Man with the Yellow Hat (from Curious George), a doctor, a tiger, a jungle explorer, a fireman, or his favorite--an astronaut!

The fireman giving his little sister a ride in the fire engine!

Isaac ended his birthday by snuggling with Pop and reading new birthday books.  (Of course, he was still wearing one of his new costumes.)  Then, Isaac got to hear a "boy named Isaac story" from his daddy over the phone.  (Daddy's stories are much better than mine, so Isaac loved this!)

We love birthdays, so Isaac's birthday celebrations are continuing tonight when Papa and Nana fly in from Colorado!  We love celebrating our big four year old!

Mommy & Isaac Date

Dave and I have been trying to spend more time with Isaac and Emma individually.  To kick off our new "one on one" adventure, I took Isaac on a date yesterday afternoon.  My Aunt Bernie was so gracious to take care of Emma while Isaac and I went to a play and then out to dinner.

I'd heard great things about Artie's Playhouse in Hurst, and their current children's show is "Blue's Clues Birthday Party."  Blue's Clues is one of Isaac's favorite shows, and he liked the play version just as much as the TV version.  Isaac had never been to a play before, and he asked a lot of questions on the way there.  He wondered how it could be a "show" if it wasn't on TV, and he also wondered if the real Joe would be there or not (Joe is the lead male character).

As you can see, Isaac barely moved when he first watched the play.

Each episode of Blue's Clues has three clues.  Joe always writes the clues in his "handy dandy notebook," and Isaac had a notebook to write his clues in, too.  When you put the clues together, you find the answer to the show's question.  This show was all about Blue's birthday party, and Blue gave three clues that helped everyone figure out what she wanted for her birthday.  (Answer: a hug)  :)  

Joe and Blue

Isaac loved having his picture taken with Magenta, Blue, and Joe after the show.  

After the show, I told Isaac we could go to any restaurant that he wanted.  I was pretty sure he would pick Chick Fil A or Dickey's, and--no surprise--he picked Dickey's.  While we were sitting in a booth eating supper & talking, it hit me how big Isaac is getting...big enough to hold a conversation through dinner.  I might miss my snuggly little toddler boy, but I love seeing God grow Isaac's personality into a strong, funny, loving boy.  

I love this boy!

Apple Picking!

I had been hoping that David and I would be able to take Isaac and Emma to an apple orchard this fall. I spent several nap times calling orchards all around Texas--I was willing to drive!  Every orchard near Lubbock had lost all their apples due to a late April freeze, and the closest orchard I could find was 4 1/2 hours away.  Even though I really wanted to go pick apples, I knew 4 1/2 hours away was definitely too far to drive.  There is an orchard in Roanoke that I called, but the owner said she gives her priority to field trips.  She said there was a small chance she would open to the public this last Saturday, so I'm sure you can imagine how ecstatic I was when she announced that she would open!  

It was the perfect end to my birthday celebrations.

I'm so thankful for my sweet family!  

During the years when we were waiting for a baby, going to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard were at the top of my list of things I couldn't wait to do with my children.

All of the trees were dwarf apple trees, which meant they were just the right size for little ones to pick apples.

Isaac insisted on wearing his hard hat.  "Mom, I don't want any of the apples that might fall off the tree to hurt my head!"

Isaac and Emma also had a lot of fun watching the chickens.

I don't think I've ever seen Emma laugh as hard as she did when watching the chickens.  She thought they were hilarious!

"Mommy, can we please be done taking pictures?" 

Isaac was a trooper and pulled our wagon all the way back to the car.    I had two very tired kids by the time we got home!  Now, we have a pile of apples to bake into some fall treats!

Isaac just looked through all the apple orchard pictures, and this is what he said:

"The apple orchard was great and we picked some apples.  Daddy came, and we had so much fun.  And, we could not even stop laughing!  I loved it."

I couldn't have said it better myself.  :)

Preschool at Home: Apples

It's fall--my absolute favorite time of the year!  Today, I am excited to link up with Tot School Gathering Place to share some of our fall activities from the past two weeks.

My little ones made hand and fingerprint apple trees (idea from Learn~Play~Imagine).  I have been trying to involve Emma in more of our "school time"--I think you can tell by her smile that she likes it!  She glued, painted, and tasted paint. :)

Isaac loves doing projects, especially anything involving paint!  It has been neat to see his ability to concentrate grow as he gets older.  I love how focused he is in the above pictures.

Little Emma has quite the red lips in this picture!  :)  

The finished trees are darling!  If you read our blog long enough, you'll find that I love any craft or project involving hands/handprints! 

With Isaac, I've been focusing on number recognition and pre-math activities.  Isaac and his sweet   friend, Landrie, cut their own tree trunks out of brown paper.  Then, they glued the green leaves to the branches and added "apples" (red poms) to each tree.  We counted (and counted and counted) the apples on each tree. 

Throughout this week, I've practiced beginning addition & subtraction with Isaac.  I'll give Isaac two apples while holding two apples and ask, "If you have two apples and I have two apples, how many do we have all together?"  Being able to touch and see the apples helps him a lot.  He likes the subtraction questions better (probably because they involve a storm!).  For example, "If you have four apples on your tree and a giant gust of wind blows two off of the tree, how many apples are left on the tree?" 

 I got this idea for a foam apple tree in the bath from the fall number bath on Momma's Fun World.

I sang the following lyrics to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?"

Picking apples, picking apples

off the tree, off the tree

Pick the number ___, pick the number ___ 

and give it to me, give it to me.

Isaac thought this was so much fun!  He sang right along with me, too.

Of course, Emma was right beside her big brother the entire time.  She picked the apples off as quickly as she could!

I think we've reserved every fall/apple book in the entire Fort Worth library system.  

Here are our favorite apple books:

The Apple Pie Tree

I think this book is excellent.  It starts in the winter when the tree's branches are bare and then shows what the apple tree looks like in each season.  

I Know It's Autumn  

Ten Red Apples

 Emma loves lifting the flaps on this fall board book.

Baby Loves Fall

Happy Fall, Everyone!

Who Is This Man?

David is about to start a project on an oilfield, and he attended "oilfield training" earlier this week.  When he got home from training, he told me that he'd have to shave his beard.  I absolutely love Dave with his beard (I think he's had it for 5 years), so I gave him plenty of reasons why I though this regulation was ridiculous.  Of course, none of my reasons matter.  :)  

Dave went to work yesterday morning with a beard, but I received this text halfway through my morning.

SURPRISE!

Dave was headed to the oilfield with some equipment yesterday, so he had to shave it before he arrived on the premises.  

I wondered what Isaac and Emma would think of Dave when he arrived home last night.  (I hadn't told Isaac anything about this.)

When Dave got home last night, Isaac ran to the garage to say "hi" as he always does.  He paused and then asked, "Why are you wearing that?"  Dave explained this is what he'd be wearing at the oilfield.  Both Dave & I could tell Isaac was thinking really hard.  Isaac studied him again and then said, "Hey!  You don't have your beard!"

"Daddy, why did you shave your beard?  Daddy, you look silly!"  Isaac said both of these phrases over and over last night.

Beard or no beard, this is one fantastic daddy!

Before bed last night, Isaac touched Dave's cheek again and said, "Daddy, I really like your no beard."  

This reminded me of the time when I was in 6th grade and my dad surprised my sister and me by growing a beard.  My family was living in Minnesota, but my dad had been working in Texas for several weeks (long enough to grow something that resembled a beard!).  Emily & I were so shocked when our dad came home with a beard, because he had never had any facial hair.  I don't think he'd been home from Texas for an hour before he shaved it off.  :)

Flashback to 1994!  My mom took this picture of Emily & me watching our dad shave his beard off.  

Our expressions make me laugh!